2025-26 Prospects Thread

[buddha]

another fourth liner who tries hard but has limited skill.

he'll fit right in on the first line here.

[lordstanley]

13 hours ago, buddha said:

grand rapids gets beat again.

cossa finishes with the worst save % on the team this year (he finished ahead of augustine, but he just got there so we'll cut him some slack).

meanwhile, jesper wellstadt just started a playoff game and gave up 1 goal to dallas.  #yzerplan.

And Montreal beat Tampa with a 5th rounder from the draft before Cossa’s in net. 

[Shinzaki]

41 minutes ago, buddha said:

another fourth liner who tries hard but has limited skill.

he'll fit right in on the first line here.

Curious why you think he has limited skill?  He scored 21 in 40 college games...and he's a very good skater.  I think he profiles as a bottom six wing and PK

[buddha]

1 hour ago, Shinzaki said:

Curious why you think he has limited skill?  He scored 21 in 40 college games...and he's a very good skater.  I think he profiles as a bottom six wing and PK

he scored 20 goals as a 22 year old playing against players younger than him.  if he has any nhl ambitions i would expect him to do that.

i dont think he gets his goals through speed, stick handling, great passing, or high end "skills," i think he gets them by charging to the net and being physical.

that's great.  the nhl is full of guys like that.  but he's not particularly big, not particularly fast, and doesnt set the game on fire by being more skilled than others.

he's carter mazur.  a plugger.  the world needs pluggers, but the world needs another alex debrincat more.

[Cruzer1]

48 minutes ago, buddha said:

he scored 20 goals as a 22 year old playing against players younger than him.  if he has any nhl ambitions i would expect him to do that.

i dont think he gets his goals through speed, stick handling, great passing, or high end "skills," i think he gets them by charging to the net and being physical.

that's great.  the nhl is full of guys like that.  but he's not particularly big, not particularly fast, and doesnt set the game on fire by being more skilled than others.

he's carter mazur.  a plugger.  the world needs pluggers, but the world needs another alex debrincat more.

You throw a lot up there, just to see what sticks. James and Mazur are different players to me, mostly because James is a left handed shot, and Mazur is a righty. Mazur's game is more physical, and he's more ready for the NHL. James needs at least a year in Grand Rapids. The Wings need more left handed shots, which is a reason why I think Carter Bear might have a shot to make the team next year, but only if he can play with Larkin and Raymond. I think his game is perfect for it.

[buddha]

4 minutes ago, Cruzer1 said:

You throw a lot up there, just to see what sticks. James and Mazur are different players to me, mostly because James is a left handed shot, and Mazur is a righty. Mazur's game is more physical, and he's more ready for the NHL. James needs at least a year in Grand Rapids. The Wings need more left handed shots, which is a reason why I think Carter Bear might have a shot to make the team next year, but only if he can play with Larkin and Raymond. I think his game is perfect for it.

you throw a lot of hope up there and pray that it sticks.  it hasnt so far, but our standards are different.

[Jason_R]

The best thing that can be said about Mazur so far is that he can be on the ice for 5v5 goals against more cheaply than players like Rasmussen or Appleton. But at least he did some hitting, which is an improvement, and he is young and hungry and hasn’t reached his ceiling. 

And if all Dylan James does is crash the net, well, we don’t really have anyone who does that now, so maybe he and some of the kids can make up a really abrasive third or fourth line. I have dibs on calling them the Grit Line. 

[Hongbit]

8 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

 

And if all Dylan James does is crash the net, well, we don’t really have anyone who does that now, so maybe he and some of the kids can make up a really abrasive third or fourth line. I have dibs on calling them the Grit Line. 

This is exactly what this team needs.  

[Shinzaki]

James is a good skater

1 hour ago, buddha said:

he scored 20 goals as a 22 year old playing against players younger than him.  if he has any nhl ambitions i would expect him to do that.

i dont think he gets his goals through speed, stick handling, great passing, or high end "skills," i think he gets them by charging to the net and being physical.

that's great.  the nhl is full of guys like that.  but he's not particularly big, not particularly fast, and doesnt set the game on fire by being more skilled than others.

he's carter mazur.  a plugger.  the world needs pluggers, but the world needs another alex debrincat more.

From the highlights I've seen..James is a pretty good skater...I'm not going to neg him for not being Alex DeBrincat.  No one expects him to be that.  Even if it's true that he's going to be scoring mostly by driving the net...we sure as hell need that on our roster. Our bottom six is occupied by a lot of guys who shy away from physical hockey and they have a tendency to float through games.  Again..from what I've seen, James would provide us with some of what we're missing on the bottom six

[buddha]

16 minutes ago, Shinzaki said:

James is a good skater

From the highlights I've seen..James is a pretty good skater...I'm not going to neg him for not being Alex DeBrincat.  No one expects him to be that.  Even if it's true that he's going to be scoring mostly by driving the net...we sure as hell need that on our roster. Our bottom six is occupied by a lot of guys who shy away from physical hockey and they have a tendency to float through games.  Again..from what I've seen, James would provide us with some of what we're missing on the bottom six

i dont disagree, but i dont think he's particularly "skilled."  we may be working off different definitions of "skilled."

the bottom six could use an upgrade and anyone with a pulse is likely to fit that bill instead of rasmussen.

but if they are running mazur and james next year, they'll need a big upgrade in the top six to make the playoffs.  honestly, if trading danielson or kasper and some of their depth gets you a highly skilled player they should do it.  because kasper and danielson arent playing like future 40 goal scorers, they're playing like future 40 point scorers.

[Shinzaki]

I think running James and Mazur on the bottom six would probably be an improvement 5 on 5 over the current mix and necessitate smaller improvements in the top 6

 

[buddha]

5 minutes ago, Shinzaki said:

I think running James and Mazur on the bottom six would probably be an improvement 5 on 5 over the current mix and necessitate smaller improvements in the top 6

 

hopefully.

i think we've all placed too much faith in the wings' prospects.  me included.  so i'm taking a wait and see approach.

 

[Cruzer1]

8 hours ago, buddha said:

you throw a lot of hope up there and pray that it sticks.  it hasnt so far, but our standards are different.

You don't seem to be watching what's going on. You seem to troll quite a bit.

Edited 16 hours ago by Cruzer1

[buddha]

8 hours ago, Cruzer1 said:

You don't seem to be watching what's going on. You seem to troll quite a bit.

i'm here every day all season.  you popped in about two weeks ago to tell everyone how great this season was and how good michael rasmussen is.

 

 

[Cruzer1]

4 hours ago, buddha said:

i'm here every day all season.  you popped in about two weeks ago to tell everyone how great this season was and how good michael rasmussen is.

 

 

He's been injured. 

[lordstanley]

So is there any chance the Wings actually have something in goalie Michal Postava? I know nothing about him, other than his stat line, but as long as one of the Grand Rapids goalie is backing up Gibson next season I don’t care which one it is, whoever is best qualified. Postava is only 9 months older than Cossa. Sure, he was signed as an undrafted free agent and Cossa was #15 overall, but it’s like being concerned about what was someone’s SAT score when they’re now 5 years into their business career. 

Edited 3 hours ago by lordstanley

[Jason_R]

Well, one of them needs to be ready for heavy minutes in Detroit next season, and the other needs to get some starts in Detroit also. 

Id like to think that of Cossa, Postava, and Augustine, one can get traded but Gibson is only under contract for next year so they may not want to be aggressive in moving one of them. But when has Stevie been aggressive as a GM?

[lordstanley]

5 hours ago, buddha said:

i'm here every day all season.  you popped in about two weeks ago to tell everyone how great this season was and how good michael rasmussen is.

 

 

As an amusing sidenote, since Christmas I've read the Pistons forum consistently but don't know enough to contribute. But for the past couple of months I've been thinking to myself, that Buddha, does he really need to be so skeptical about Duren and the Pistons' offense beyond Cade and how play will tighten up in the playoffs. And then Game 1 hit, ha. Maybe Buddha really is a wise man ...

[slothfacekilla]

Now that James signed I think he honestly has a good chance to make the Wings next year.  He may not be skilled in the sense of offensive creativity, but from what I've seen and read he can probably help a NHL penalty kill already.  He's a good skater with good instincts in his own zone.  I'd certainly rather have him on the team than a handful of guys from this past season.

[buddha]

20 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

Well, one of them needs to be ready for heavy minutes in Detroit next season, and the other needs to get some starts in Detroit also. 

Id like to think that of Cossa, Postava, and Augustine, one can get traded but Gibson is only under contract for next year so they may not want to be aggressive in moving one of them. But when has Stevie been aggressive as a GM?

i think there is so much smoke about them having deals in place but just not being able to get them over the finish line, that they will make some moves this offseason.

but i share your skepticism about yzerman at this point and am in "i'll believe it when i see it" mode.

unfortunately, i think the most lkkely deal is for a distressed asset like ep40.  😞

[buddha]

1 minute ago, slothfacekilla said:

Now that James signed I think he honestly has a good chance to make the Wings next year.  He may not be skilled in the sense of offensive creativity, but from what I've seen and read he can probably help a NHL penalty kill already.  He's a good skater with good instincts in his own zone.  I'd certainly rather have him on the team than a handful of guys from this past season.

where do we fit danielson, mazur, mbn, lombardi, and james next year?

they'll have to dump ras, appleton, and compher.  not easy to do with their production/contracts.  unless, as some have posed, youre sending them as salary makeweights pkus prospects in a bigger deal for ep40.  i think jason offered up that possibility.

 

[slothfacekilla]

1 minute ago, buddha said:

where do we fit danielson, mazur, mbn, lombardi, and james next year?

they'll have to dump ras, appleton, and compher.  not easy to do with their production/contracts.  unless, as some have posed, youre sending them as salary makeweights pkus prospects in a bigger deal for ep40.  i think jason offered up that possibility.

 

You're probably right about dumping guys.  I have no idea who will actually be available and realistic to get via trade so I hesitate to speculate, but this is better than doing my job so I guess if it were me.....

 

Debrincat - Larkin - Raymond

Finnie - Danielson - MBN

Lombardi - Kasper - Mazur

James - Copp - Appleton

 

You find a way to dump Ras/Compher.  Ideally there is a trade or trades in place and that many kids aren't in the lineup but I would shoot for something like that if I could.  The team would lose a lot of games though I imagine.  Ideally Lombardi isn't in the NHL and Danielson/Kasper aren't your two / three centers at least right now.  Todd probably runs Copp on line two and pushes the others down though.

[buddha]

EP40 - Larkin - Raymond

Debrincat - Copp - Kane

Lombardi - Kasper - Mazur

James - Compher - MBN

you lose danielson in the trade plus a pick and ras.  re-sign kane.

[slothfacekilla]

Honestly that works for me.  I'd probably flip Mazur/MBN from your lines but that's splitting hairs.

No matter what happens I wouldn't mind carrying someone like Lombardi over a more defensive responsible player just to add some creativity to the team....if they aren't winning a cup I don't mind a glass cannon team for entertainment reasons.

[buddha]

14 minutes ago, slothfacekilla said:

Honestly that works for me.  I'd probably flip Mazur/MBN from your lines but that's splitting hairs.

No matter what happens I wouldn't mind carrying someone like Lombardi over a more defensive responsible player just to add some creativity to the team....if they aren't winning a cup I don't mind a glass cannon team for entertainment reasons.

i dont care what they do, as long as i dont have to see another retread veteran with no skills on a top line with larkin and raymond.

you want to take advantage of skill?  get a skilled player like ep40.  you want someone to dig in the corners but still have some playmaking skill to match?  move kasper up or go get a bigger guy with some speed who can stay with those two.